Professional Golf's 2026 Fall Stars

The fall golf season isn’t quite over, but with only a handful of events remaining on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour calendars, I figured now is an opportune time to spotlight the players who have made the biggest strides over the past couple of months.

For this exercise, I’ve placed a premium on youth. For my money, age is still probably the most underrated data point in golf. There is considerably more uncertainty surrounding a young talent than an established veteran, and a strong fall performance tells us more about a young player’s trajectory than a 35-year-old’s.

Jacob Bridgeman isn’t 35, he’s 27. However, despite winning in Asheville and finishing second at the Baycurrent Classic in Tokyo, he is not included below because I don’t view him any differently than I did before the fall. We already knew he is an excellent player.

With that framework in mind, here are the five golfers who have impressed me this fall (plus a couple of honorable mentions).

1. Kihei Akina

If the fall season ended today, Akina would be my MVP.

The BYU sophomore has recorded as many top-15 finishes (two) as any player on the PGA Tour this fall despite playing in only three of the five events. He finished ninth at the Bank of Utah Championship, 15th at the Mexico Open, and T-17 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

From time to time, you’ll hear people say that the margins separating different levels in golf are razor-thin, but it really isn’t true. The talent gaps between collegiate golf and the Korn Ferry Tour, and between the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour, are quite significant. If a player belongs on the PGA Tour, they’ll let you know. Akina is very young, but over a small sample this fall, he is doing precisely that.

I don’t want to hoist unreasonable expectations on a 20-year-old amateur, but Akina should feel very encouraged that he’s already proving he can contend with some of the best golfers in the world at such a ripe age. The future is bright.

2. Eugenio Chacarra

Chacarra’s ascent over the past six months has been one of the biggest leaps of any player in professional golf.

The 26-year-old Spaniard, once the second-ranked amateur in the world, leads the Race to Dubai with two weeks remaining in the DP World Tour season. This fall alone, Chacarra has a win and three additional top-five finishes in seven starts dating back to September, putting himself atop the DP World Tour standings and securing status on the PGA Tour for next year.

Chacarra isn’t necessarily on my short list of Masters contenders for 2027, but we could be discussing him as a contender by the time next year’s majors roll around, a remarkable jump from where he stood at the beginning of the year.

3. Michael Brennan

Brennan’s victory at the Baycurrent Classic is going to stick with me for a long time. His sheer dominance off the tee — hitting 55 of 60 fairways for the week, including all 15 in the final round — while wielding one of the fastest ball speeds in the world is impossible to ignore.

The win in Japan marked his second PGA Tour victory in five starts, to go along with three victories on the PGA Tour Americas in 2025 and one on the PGA Tour last fall. And he hasn’t yet celebrated his 25th birthday.

I already liked Brennan’s prospects before this fall, but I was particularly struck by Craig Perks’ enthusiasm for both Brennan’s talent and maturity. Perks knows the game well, and I found his conviction in Brennan’s future compelling.

I’m reluctant to get carried away with predictions here, especially since you’re generally better off taking the field than a particular player, so I’ll just keep it broad and say that expectations should be very high for Brennan over the next two years.

4. Tom Kim

The world moves so quickly these days, and attention spans have become so short, that it’s easy to forget what Tom Kim accomplished just a month ago. He was the top points earner in the Presidents Cup, then he immediately hopped on a plane to Japan for the Asian Games and won the gold medal with mandatory military service at stake.

Both were incredible achievements. Delivering them within a week in two highly pressurized, emotional environments makes the accomplishments all the more impressive. Because he turned professional at an early age, Kim can feel like a grizzled veteran. It’s important to keep in mind that at age 24, he hasn’t yet reached his competitive prime. He is still younger than Michael Brennan!

5. Casey Jarvis

Should Casey Jarvis have been picked to represent the Internationals at the Presidents Cup? I’m not particularly interested in relitigating captain’s selections, especially after the Internationals came as close as they did to pulling off a nearly unthinkable upset. However, I do believe Jarvis should have been selected over Christiaan Bezuidenhout or Nico Echavarria, in no small part because young players are much lesser-known quantities. Jarvis is 23. Maybe he’s the 120th-best golfer in the world. Maybe he’s the 30th. We don’t know yet. Respectfully, we have a pretty good idea of where Bezuidenhout and Echavarria stack up.

In any case, over his last three starts on the DP World Tour, Jarvis has posted two top-five finishes, climbing to fourth in the Race to Dubai standings with two weeks to go. Whatever you think of his Presidents Cup omission, it’s water under the bridge. I suspect it will even prove beneficial over the long run, providing an extra boost of motivation as Jarvis embarks on the next phase of his young career.

The South African drives the ball consistently well, a strong indicator of future success at the highest level of the game. If he shows signs of improvement with the putter over the next couple of months, he could become a dangerous player in a hurry. For now, he’s one of the names I’ll be watching most closely, including this week in Abu Dhabi.

Honorable Mentions

Austin Smotherman: Smotherman racked up two wins in three starts this fall. At 32 years old, his career outlook hasn’t changed much over the last few months in my eyes. But he warrants monitoring, particularly if he can continue putting the ball better than a 10-handicap. I will say this: he should be playing this week in Cabo. Stack those eligibility years while you’re hot!

Andrew Novak: Like Smotherman, Novak is an established player whose fall performance doesn’t radically change my view on him moving forward. He turns 32 in March. However, Novak was on an impressive trajectory in the first half of 2025. He earned his way into signature events, nearly won in San Antonio and Harbour Town in successive starts, and then he won the Zurich Classic with partner Ben Griffin the following week. Injury disrupted some of his momentum throughout that summer, and he hasn’t quite looked like the same player since. But a five-shot victory in Mexico this past weekend could be a sign he’s headed back to the level we witnessed in early 2025, when he was one of the best 30 or so golfers in the world.